THE BANKING RETURNS

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4103, 16 July 1900, Page 6

THE BANKING RETURNS

From the returns kindly supplied by the officers of the sevend banks, we aio enabled to review the movements m New Zealand banking affairs during too quarter ended 30th June last. The general result, we may say at the outset, corresponds with that usually seen in the second quarter of the year, namely, an increase in the aggregate credit ballance of the community with their bankers, resulting from realisation of tho season’s produce. Oh the present occasion the accretion is larger than usual, as was to bo expected from the abnormal expansion in the colony’s exports. The aggregate assets and liabilities compare as follows witli the previous quarter and with the corresponding period of last year : Quarter. Assets. Liabilities. £ X June. 1899 ... 17,017,092 10.0:11.907 March. 1900... 17,292,520 10,732,032 June, 1900 ... 17,103,190 17,305,381 The fluctuations in tho assets are not large, and in the quarter under review the total is rather heavier than at the corresponding quarter of 1899. The liabilities have, however, increased by £573,352 in the three months, and by £1.273,477 in tho year. This substantial increase can be traced, as we shall show later on, almost entirely to tho rapid growth in tho amount of free deposits or the credit balance of current accounts. The comparison of advances and discounts in the same quarters shows as follows ;

For the period thus brought under review there has been a slight increase in. discounts amounting to very nearly £15,000 in the year. Advances have also grown in the year by £280,426, though tho latest quartei* shows a reduction of £60,638 in tho three months. The. combined total of advances and discounts is thus reduced in tho quarter by £46,349, but increased in tbe year by £301.416. Tho position of the several banks in relation to-tho year’s expansion of advances and discounts compares as foil ows :

The Union Bank, Bank of Australasia and National Bank each shows a proportion of advance, while the other two institutions exhibit a slight shrinkage. Deposits show in the same periods tho following variations in the respective totals of the two classes :

The fluctuations in the fixed’ deposits are not heavy, the total in the latest quarter being loss than that of a. year before by £61,553, though showing a slight increase on the previous quartern The total of free deposits has. on the other hand, advanced by “ leaps and bounds,” the increase for the quarter and year respectively being £570,724 for the former and £1,156,547 for the latter. It will thus be seen that, as stated above, thoi'increase in free deposits practically accounts for the growth in bank ‘/This increase has really taken place in the last two quarters ; indeed, the growth for the six months is larger than that for the year, the former being the period in which the realisations of produce arc mainly brought to credit. The figures for the December quarter contrast as follows with those for the period under review: Quarter. Fixed. Free. Total. £ £ £ Dec, 1839 ... 7,853.489 5,905,990 13,759,479 June, 1900 7,816,233 7,200,307 15,076.540 The increase in the six months is £1,354,317 as regards the free deposits, and £1,317,061 in the total of both classes. This gives a good indication of the satisfactory position, on the whole, of our producers. The several banks share in the year’s increase of combined desposits as follows:

We have thus the remarkable position that the deposits of tho community furnish, sufficient to meet all the requirements of the community in tho way of advances, with a surplus left in the hands of the banks ranging from over three millions to nearly four millions, the increase in the year being £855,130. It is difficult to- see how a stringent money market can come about while such conditions continue. ‘ Note circulation is another feature that indicates growing prosperity and good employment for the labouring classes. The expansion in the quarter and year are shown by tho following figures: June, 1899. March, 1900. June, 1900. 1,185,715 1,281,125 1,331,449 There is an increase of over £50,000 in . the quarter, and of £144,734 in the twelvemonth. A comparison for a few years back brings out the position still more forcibly. Tho figures are as follows: —

The expansion from year to year, especially in the last two years, is very striking. The stock of coin and bullion shows a little increase in the latest quarter, as the following figures will show: June, 1899. March, 3900.; June, 3900. £ £ £ 2,631,742 * 2,676,879 2.735,036 The banks have been importing coin, the imports of the December and March, quarters having exceeded exports by over £206,000. in spite of this, however, the increase in the bank holdings in the year is only £43,294. Particulars of imports and exports for the Juno quarter are not yet available. In all the above comparisons the position of tile Government account on both sides has been omitted, the object being to investigate the position of the commercial and industrial community, and the results are highly gratifying, indicating as they do a. high degree of prosperity existing i>i New Zealand, in spite -of ail the special calls that have been made upon her during the past year.

Quarter. Disc’nis. Advances. Total. £ £ £ Jxuio. 1899 .. 1,680,869 9,128,569 10,809,132 March, 1900 .. 1,688,860 9,475,633 11,161,199 June, 1900 .. 1,695,853 9,111,995 11.110,818

June, ,7xmo. 1899. 1900. .£ X Bank N.Z .. 3,861,732 3,809,011 Union Bank ... .. 1.-118,975 1,518,262 Bank N.S.AV. . 2,067,902 2,033,289 Bank Australasia . . 1,597,058 1,716,273 National Bank .. 1,863.765 1,973,983

Quarter. Fixed. Free. Total. £ £ £ Juno, 1899 ... 7,877,786 0,012,207 13,919,993 March , 1900.. . 7,801,601 6,689,583 14,191,181 Juno, 1900 ... . 7,816,233 7,200,307 15,076,510

June, June, 1899. 1900. Increase. <£> -£ Bank N.Z. ... 5,885,692 6,521,227 655,535 Union Bank ... 2,309,556 2,119,965 110,409 Bank N.S.W. ... 2,442,339 2,529,732 87,353 B’nk A’stralasia 1,276,387 1,395,251 118,887 National Bank 2.026,019 2-,210,362 181,313 Following is the comparison of the aggregate advances with that of deposits in the quarters under review: Excess of Quarter. Deposits. Advances. Deposits June; 1899 ... 13,919,993 10,809,432 3,110,501 March, 1900 11,491,181 11,161,499 3,326,685 June, 1900... 15.076,510 11,110,849‘ 3,965,691

£ Juno quarter, 1896 965,311 1897 .. 1,036,097 „ 1898 .. 1,091,985 „ 1899 .. 1,186,715 1909 .. 1,331,449